Schnell welkt das Vergängliche. Schnell stieben die verdorrten Jahre davon. Spöttisch blicken die scheinbar ewigen Sterne. In uns innen der Geist allein Mag unbewegt schauen das Spiel, Ohne Spott, ohne Schmerz. Ihm sind "vergänglich" und "ewig" Gleich viel, gleich wenig . . . Aber das Herz Wehrt sich, glüht auf in Liebe, Und ergibt sich, welkende Blume, Dem unendlichen Todesruf, Dem unendlichen Liebesruf.
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View text with all available footnotesConfirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, page 313.
Text Authorship:
- by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Bei der Nachricht vom Tod eines Freundes", written 1930 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Kurt Driesch (1904 - 1989), "Nach dem Empfang einer Todesnachricht", op. 14 (1936) [ alto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gerhard Schumann (b. 1914), "Bei der Nachricht vom Tod eines Freundes" [ baritone and string quartet ], from Drei Gesänge für Bariton und Streichquartett, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-05-04
Line count: 13
Word count: 63